Tea Pyxidis
House Pyxis is a newcomer as a noble house, having only been around for 80 years. In those 80 years, however, Pyxis nobles have begun to have their own revival of tea cultivation and consumption. On their constant voyages of exploration, Pyxis nobles routinely investigate discover what plants work in a manner that would make for a good, or at least edible, food or drink. Around 40 years ago, a group of tea-loving Pyxis nobles founded the Tea Pyxidis Company, for the purpose of both profit and to share Pyxis tea discoveries with the sector at large. Types of Pyxis Tea Star Tea Most prominent in House Pyxis is the type of tea known as Star Tea. Pyxis nobles have made a habit of sharing Star tea with each other whenever they meet in space, both to enjoy the drink and so that they can talk about the variety of ingredients of which they made their flavor of Star tea from. Star Tea itself is a rather simple tea, commonly and easily made and enjoyed by all travellers. It can be made with any kind of tea leaves, as it is the process, not the blend, that makes a tea into Star Tea. Star Tea was brought to prominence by House Pyxis’ rapid exploration of the sector. It is believed that it were House Pyxis nobles who first discovered this tea and then its brewing and consumption spread as they brought the tea back to the Lodestone. Star Tea is typically made using only three ingredients, water, tea leaves and the final ‘ingredient’ is the light of a star. “For some reason,” one early Pyxis explorer remarked in a letter which he sent back to his family, “depending on the starlight that is used, it causes the tea to gain certain peculiarities. The tea that was brewed under the light of a red giant, had an ever so slightly different taste than the one brewed under a white dwarf star.” The flavor varies wildly depending on what tea plant is used, and on the combination of herbs, fruits, and of course sunlight. Furthermore flavors can differ based on the family, ship, and even on the individual who brews it. Pyxis has even made a specific saying called a “Pyxis Tea Party” for when individuals amongst house Pyxis meet for the first time, where they share stories and their own unique Star Tea. Soiléir Leaf Tea After the revival of tea amongst Pyxis, they began exploring to find a blend that could be used as their own unique House tea. Star Tea, after all, was a tea common to all travellers and could not be called their own. After while they discovered a species of crystalline plants that grew next to old abandoned spike drives. As they studied the plant they discovered that it feeds off the unique properties of the spike drive and the ambient energy of the area around it. They decided to name the plant “Soiléir”, as it also improved the vibrancy of the plant life around it. It is now common in House Pyxis to have old spike drives in some greenhouses to have Soiléir grow and in the process make the other plants healthier too. It was a few years later that another Pyxis, known as PlantMaster Thumb Green, decided to try making it into a tea and thus presented House Pyxis with Soiléir Leaf Tea. As a tea it has only a mild flavor, but it has a side-effect of being a highly potent energy drink. Soon after consumption, one gets a giant kick of energy that can keep you awake even through the most boring of lectures. House Pyxis marvelled at the discovery, and soon began looking to see if the leaf could be used in other ways. Fermented Soiléir Leaf and Aardvark Cuma Tea One Pyxis, a Seeker Frendt Mas, decided to harvest the plant and then let it ferment in some distinct way and in special conditions. This caused a mold to begin growing on the leaves. He then he tried to make it into a tea again and the resulting blend became known as Fermented Soiléir Leaf Tea. The resulting tea has even more of a kick to it but the special conditions that were needed to make the tea, made it a more expensive and labor-intensive to produce. Frendt Mas continued on experimenting with the leaf and then accidently let it get eaten by his pet, which was a large Aardvark like creature. When he went to take care of its daily needs, he notices that the excrement was a lot more aromatic and upon further investigation found that the tea leaves were somehow still mostly intact, but had somehow been fermented. He named this version Aardvark Cuma, as it was a strange twist of fate that he even figured out that the creature’s stomach conditions allowed it to ferment the Soiléir leaf faster than it could in the specific conditions he’d used before. He wrote a note in his logs the next day, “I went to drink it and I found that it added greatly to the taste of the tea. I also got an energy boost, but it is alcoholic in nature. I do not recall myself, but apparently some of my friends saw me messing with people's houses and noted that I had so much energy that I could not pass out even when heavily drunk.” However since the leaves need to be collected by hand, and few serfs are happy about having to dig through excrement to find the leaves, the process was even more expensive and labor-intensive than that for the original blend. Traxium Tea Another Pyxis, a Tea Drinker Mavis Varn, discovered the Traxium plant. He remarked that it had alcoholic content, but that it tasted milder and that he could eat more of the leaves without getting drunk when the tea was hot. However the leaves itselves were nonflammable even with the alcoholic content they have. Mavis Varn then went on to create Traxium Tea. which was offered hot and cold depending on how much one wanted to drink. Category:Beverages Category:House Pyxis Category:House Pyxis Products